Sky Blog
With institutional shareholders playing a growing role in corporate governance, dialogue between boards and shareholders is increasingly common in the U.S. and Europe. Talking with boards is essential to institutional investors’ stewardship functions, and engaging with institutional investors has become …
On September 27, President Trump, the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance released their framework for tax reform (the “framework”), which represents the most detailed proposal for changes to the tax code issued during …
In the last two decades, anti-corruption has become a global norm, as the OECD and the United Nations have made clear in adopting anti-corruption conventions. As a result, combatting corruption in international business has joined upholding human and labor rights …
On September 13, 2017, the European Commission issued a proposed Regulation establishing a framework for screening foreign investments into the European Union.[1] The Commission also issued an explanatory memorandum and a communication to the European Parliament and other relevant …
The degree to which business participants ought to be free to limit or eliminate fiduciary duties and associated liabilities remains a hotly contested matter in many jurisdictions. In a new chapter forthcoming in Edward Elgar’s Research Handbook on Fiduciary Law…
Throughout the 1990s, the Big 5 accounting firms made a concerted effort to enter the legal services market. By the close of the twentieth century, legal networks directly owned or closely affiliated with the Big 5 were major players in …
On July 27 of this year, Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), delivered a speech in which he questioned the sustainability of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) in its current form. The FCA has …
On 29 August 2017, the UK Government published its response to the green paper on corporate governance reform that it issued at the end of November 2016. It intends to implement its reform proposals — so that they apply to …
Since the June 8 election in Britain, which saw the Prime Minister lose her majority in Parliament, there has been much speculation as to whether the British government would continue down the road of a “hard” Brexit or would move …
On Wednesday, August 2, 2017, President Donald Trump signed into law the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (the Act). The Act significantly expands and codifies US sanctions targeting Russia, and it adds several measures to the already comprehensive US …
The May 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack affected more than 200,000 computers spread across 150 nations. The results of the attack made clear that computers whose software is not up to date can hurt not only the computers’ owners, but ultimately …
Brexit has set the stage for a retaliatory trade war that neither the U.K. nor the E.U. wants and that will injure consumers (and others) on both sides. Moreover, it could threaten the U.S. as well, if it leads the …
Although a bedrock of the financial markets for over 30 years, LIBOR has been under pressure ever since the Wheatley Review, and a speech given by Andrew Bailey, Chief Executive of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on July 27th …
Following the recommendations of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, most financial systems around the world have imposed new capital requirements for banks in recent years. These moves seem to be justified on two powerful economic grounds. First, better capitalized …
It has been well documented that in the U.S. and other countries with developed stock markets, sound public disclosure practices strengthen the reputation and credibility of firms. However, it’s unclear whether good disclosure practices are also beneficial in emerging markets …
With trillions of dollars in assets, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) play a major role in financial markets around the world. With billions (and perhaps trillions) of dollars’ worth of equity investments around the world, the investment behavior of SWFs is …
The corporate governance literature has shown a strong link between good governance practices and firm value. The mechanisms, however, that determine the choice of effective corporate governance and board arrangements in a changing global market are not well studied. In …
The fluidity of labor markets depends on the ease with which one side of the market can fulfill the needs of the other: whether workers can find employment that suits their skills and firms can find adequate substitutes for workers …
After a period of public consultation, the European Central Bank (the “ECB”) published its final Guidance on Leveraged Transactions (the “Guidance”) on May 16, 2017[1]. Twenty-four organisations (comprising credit institutions and market associations) commented directly on the ECB’s …
Tax planning by multinational enterprises (MNEs) is estimated to generate a worldwide loss of corporate tax revenues of between $100 billion and $240 billion. U.S.-based MNEs alone are believed to retain a total of $2 trillion in earnings outside the …